This little post was inspired by a Christmas parade I attended this evening. Of course, there were too many children to count (with varying degrees of behavioural issues).
It's interesting to me, because I definitely see many different types of mothers. My sister lived in France for a year and tells me that French parents are not afraid to berate or spank their children in public, and often perfect strangers will berate the children as well. Apparently, they have zero tolerance for bad behaviour. I guess that's one way to do it. Then there's the mother who's totally disinterested and ignores any bad behaviour. There's also the angry mother who loses her temper and starts yelling and makes everyone else very uncomfortable. Mostly, you're uncomfortable because you feel terrible for the child and can clearly see the incompetence of the mother figure. Then there's the mother who just firmly tells her child what's right and wrong.
I don't think it's easy to be a mother. I personally don't have experience with that yet, but even a few hours of babysitting can be exhausting. It's hard to imagine doing that full time! However, ideally, I would love to be one of the mothers who can firmly explain to their child what's right and wrong and give a reason for it. I think that's important... if I don't know why something is wrong, why would I keep from doing it again? I also don't think scaring a child is the ideal strategy, nor calling huge attention to the behavioural issue. I hope that one day I can be a firm but kind mother. Every child has behavioural issues, but I think that the way you deal with them is so important. If you react with violence or anger, then that teaches your child that those are acceptable actions to take. Instead, shouldn't you show your children positive behaviours? And possibly reward them for good behaviour?
Again, I'm no parenting expert (and maybe a bit of an idealistic), but this is what I hope I would do!
-Laura
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